CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE
"Why did you tell Dani to tell your dad to meet us at 'Valerian Case'?" asked Fred as they sat around in a small dark hut in Austria, to the border of Zugzpitze Mt. Germany. Fred seemed too relax to be next to the most dangerous magical forest in the world and in the darkness while waiting and Albus was position next to the window hidden by the shadow with binoculars in his hands. It was full moon tonight and clear to see to the forest edge before the trees made the forest dark.
"Because... remember the Valerian Case?" Fred nodded, but Scorpios couldn't remember reading about it.
"Well," Albus said as he was going to explain. "Stefan Valerian was a muggle born wizard who just watched too many scary muggle movies in my opinion. But anyways, Valerian kidnapped muggle's and then took them to this underground cave which is called Creepers Cave and you'll see why its called so. Anyway, the muggle's police weren't able to catch Valerian as they thought he was a muggle, and then the head of their own Ministry, the Prime Minster asked my father to help with catching him and thats when the Ministry found out that they were dealing with a wizard, not a very cleaver human as they first thought. It seemed that Valerian was using muggle weapons and not magic or it would of much easier to catch him and you know how we use magic to trial people" Fred and Scorpius nodded, knowing those simples rule's; no magic in front of muggles and so on.
"When my dad cornered him at Creepers Cave, his hideout, everyone was shocked of what they found inside. In the Daily Prophet, it was said that only dead bodies where found and those still alive had their memories erased. But what the Ministry decided to keep a secret was that not only where there dead bodies found, but also..." Albus took a deep breath.
"What?" Fred asked, now intrigued.
"Some bodies were found...but they were found skinless" Scorpius tensed up. "It seemed that Valerian was trying to recreate a scene that he watched in a movie called Jeepers Creepers in real life. The skin was cut from the bodies, and then put up on the walls and roof as if they were animal skins and bodies left there to rot" and Scorpius felt like throwing up.
"So fucked up" Fred said sounding sick. Albus nodded.
"Dad was called in when they found the whereabout of the cave was and since James and I were both with him at the moment, he brought us here and told us to wait. Its seems that he had already suspected the forest to hold Valerian hiding place and had been spying on it with this hut that was just here" Albus said, looking at the nigh sky as remembering it.
"So you didn't see inside the cave?" Scorpius asked. Albus shook his head.
"No, but dad told us. We never saw anything and left before we could see the bodies being taken..." Albus stopped talking and was lookingt outside the window with wide eyes.
"What?" Scorpius asked as Albus put the binoculars to his eyes, looking through them at the darkness in front of him. After a while, Albus spoke in a hard tone.
"Its seems that Jaeger is here, and his dragging a girl with him" Scorpius and Fred stood up and looked at the forest.
"What?"
"But... why would he bring them here. You think he have a better place to go? And he could just apperate into the cave and not risk being seen? Thought he has reason not to" Fred said. Albus shook his head. He breathed deeply.
"The forest may be dangerous to enter and get out off for anyone. But there's a book I read about the forest back in school. The book said that any being that was evil could enter without any creatures attacking, taking the evil in as one of their own. The forest also has it's special protection, not letting anyone in unless they do it by crossing the border with their own two feet. That means no apperating" Scorpius shivered slightly, thinking that this forest sounded really bad making the Forbidden Forest sound like playground.
"How bad is it?" Asked Scorpius. Before anyone could say anything, there were a few popping sounds and the three guys turned towards the sound.
"Malfoy, that forest is filled with nightmares" Harry Potter said as he, Ron Weasly, James Potter and Ginny Potter walked towards them, the moonlight showing the new visitors.
After having the three Potters yell at Albus for his stupid plan, they calmed down, also thinking that Albus did a well job. He hadn't gone in all crazy and gotten himself killed at least while Mr. Weasly kept glaring at Scorpius. When Fred had asked them what had taken them so long, Mr. Potter told them that he had gone to the Ministry of Magic to tell everyone what was happening after Jeal and Dani got to his home and told him. The Minister of Magic did not believe that Mr. Potters suspicious were much to be called for an alarm and for the Hit Wizards Team to be called, but the Minister was convinced when a anonymous owl arrived with a anonymous note saying that a muggle girl was kidnapped by a wizard and taken to Creepers Cave in the Zugzpitze Mountains of Germany. How they knew that, no one knows, but Mr. Potter thought that it was a helpful hint from someone especially now that he knew it was true as he had heard about what had just happened. When they got to the subject of Jaeger arriving at the forest with the girl, Mr. Potter got quite.
"What dad?" asked Albus. Mr. Potter shook his head.
"Nothing really, I was just wondering how Jaeger knew of this cave. The forest was never revealed to the public though many know of it since it was one of Voldemort's favorite places in the world. But my question is, how did Jaeger know where to find the cave? Only a very few people know of its location and Valerian who is dead now"
"Could he had have any relatives?" Asked Scorpius thinking of Jaeger looking for his real father, and then to somehow know of this cave.
"It's said that he had a son, but we don't know if that true or who it possibly be" Mr. Potter got up. "I better get back to the Hit team and see what else I can do"
"How long till they're ready?" Fred asked. James smiled.
"They're ready, they just need our dads command to proceed" James said. Harry nodded.
"Yes, well I'm going to have the the Hit team surround the underground cave and Ron and I will go in there and take care of Jaeger ourselves." Harry said, going over the plan. Scorpius, Fred, Albus and Ginny were to stay at the hut. Scorpius was going to say something when Fred spoke up.
"NO, Fred, you are to stay here with Al and Malfoy"
"But I wanna fight"
"NO, I will not let George lose you too" Harry yelled. At that Mrs. Potter started to cry softly and the room got all tense.
"Fine" Fred said quietly but sounding angry.
"There's one more thing" Harry said. They all looked at him except Fred when they heard the different tone in him. "We attack at sun up" and with that, Harry kissed his wife on the cheek and then apperated away with James. Fred hit the table with his fist. They were quite for a few minutes, Mrs. Potter snobs disappearing.
"Fred" she said, going over to him only to have him push her hand away. She looked down at the ground.
"Why till sun up?" Scorpius yelled, not being able to control it now. It was a good chance that Lily was in the cave with Jaeger and he could hurt her at anytime, so why wait.
"Because the creatures of the forest are stronger at night and almost impossible to see. They know the forest, we don't" Albus said, sounding mad as well. He had known, and yet he haven't said anything. "Not much we can do unless we want to die first step we take." Mrs. Potter nodded.
"Do you remember anything about the ancient creatures from Ancient Ruins?" Mrs. Potter asked, looking at Scorpius. Scorpius nodded, remembering how he always that them a myth and had been real, they were all dead "It's said that those huge, frightening, dangerous creatures were able to survive and now they live here. At this great forest. The ones called Cold Ones are said to look like human, but aren't. They are really fast and only crave for one thing; blood. Then there are the ancient werewolves who have lost their human side and live here. There are many others creatures that many of us thought myth and yet, somehow seem real in this place" Mrs. Potter said, looking out to the window that overlooked to the forest.
"So last time, did the hit team come?" Scorpius asked. Mrs. Potter nodded but Albus was the one to talk.
"Yeah, my dad and uncle Ron were here and went inside to catch Valerian. It took a long time to clear the cave of the bodies since the creatures kept hurting and even killing some of the members in the hit team, my dad has a scar on his back from the close encounter with one. It was so dangerous having to go back in there, that they decided it be better to burn the rest of the bodies in the so other people weren't getting hurt just getting them out.
"How they catch Valerian?" Scorpius asked.
"Like I said before, Valerian liked using muggle weapons and not his wand so it was harder to catch him but easy to out power him" Albus said. Everyone kept on talking about Jaeger but most of the time, all of them had their minds of what could be happening to Lily and Janika.
While Scorpius and the rest waited for the sun to rise, they ate food that Mrs. Potter had brought for them. Mr. Potter arrived an hour till sunrise.
"Okay, I want you four to stay here and we'll go in and get the muggle girl out and Lily and Kaiser if they're there" Mr. Potter said with no one protesting. "James is with the hit team ready to join me at sunrise." Mr. Potter disappeared and soon the sun rose over the hills and Zugzpitze Mountain, making the snow glitter, looking like a beautiful peaceful day. The sun started to light the top of the mountain but stopping when the light got to the forest border. Mr. Potter nodded to his wife, then he disappeared. Next thing, he apperated in front of the forest with 50 or so other wizards and James and Ron. They all had their wands up with one hand and with the other, held a broom. The hit wizards along with James had armors on as well, when they got hit or fell to the ground. They walked in slowly, looking around the forest till the forest darkness made them disappear from the huts view. Fred turned towards Mrs. Potter.
"How far is the cave from the border?" Fred asked. Mrs. Potter shrugged, her eyes wide and staring at the forest.
"I don't really know. It's not far really, but it seems far just because of those creatures getting in front of you and blocking you way. It could take a while" and Fred nodded, then nodded at Albus and Scorpius. They nodded back. They knew it was stupid, but they weren't going to get left behind and they didn't get good school grades for nothing. They ran for the forest, Mrs. Potter yelling at them to return. They ran, their blood on fire eager to catch Jaeger and make him pay for what he has done.
From left and right, Scorpius was dodging everything coming towards him. Flying creatures, creatures handsm everything.
"KEEP GOING STRAIGHT" Albus yelled. Scorpius nodded as again he dodged something. He didn't have much time to look at the creatures, but at one he got a good look. It was a huge cyclops things with a horn on its head and all scaly like a dragon. His eye was huge in his small face and his teethe small but razor sharp, his tail that he had swung towards Scorpius full of spikes. There was even a creature that could breath fire and one of them caught Albus broom on fire, but he put it out. They passed some Hit team members who didn't pay them any attention since they themselves were occupied. Scorpius looked for an opening to a cave on the ground when he heard Mr. Potter.
"ALBUS, FRED, MALFOY. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THREE DOING HERE" He yelled at them while they all fought a creature themselves. Scorpius stunned a small flying huge ugly bird-like creature. They didn't respond back to him, but they heard Mr. Weasly yell.
"FUCK. THEY'RE SO MANY OF THEM ALL OF A SUDDEN, IT'S LIKE THEY WERE GATHERED HERE AND TOLD TO WAIT" Ron yelled.
"YES, I THINK THAT MAYBE JAEGER HAD ALREADY KNOWN OF OUR ATTACK AND SUMMAND THEM HERE TO KILL US" Scorpius was wondering what they were talking about when all a sudden, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw another disgusting bird-like creature fly towards him and Scorpius knowing he would have no time to react. The bird suddenly stopped and Scorpius looked towards the direction where the spell had come from only to see no one there. But there was a hole on the ground. That must be it, that must be the entrance. Scorpius tried to fly over there directly, but on his way, more creatures got on him. At one point, Scorpius got a scratch on his arm, ripping his sleeve. He ignored it. He called Albus over who was close to him to follow him and Albus nodded. They both went to the hole and when after a few minutes of fighting they reached it, they both flew in there without thinking. They landed in a small rocky hole with many tunnels leading to places. They looked around, wondering which tunnel to take when they heard a screams, female screams coming from the left farthest tunnel. Albus and Scorpius decided to follow that tunnel.
The screaming was gone and now it all quite except for Janika's quite sobs. Lily was shocked, earlier she had seen Jaeger drag in a girl with terrified eyes who was about 20 or so years old. Some hours later, a huge roar had come from outside where they were and Jeager looked up, telling someone behind him to check it out and make sure everything was in plan. Some hours later, Jaeger had grabbed the girl and taken her out into the darkness in which the candle did not reach. She heard the girl start to scream in pain against her cloth in her mouth and Jaeger telling her to shut up and even once in a while laughing. What was he doing to this poor girl, Lily thought as the girl screams became quieter till they were gone and Lily wondered if she was dead or just unconscious. Lily heard something being dropped into the ground, heard Jaeger walked towards them and when he did, his hands and cloth were full of blood. Lily looked behind where he had been with the girl but with the darkness, she could not tell what had happened.
"Lily, Lily, Lily" Jaeger said as he bent down to touch Lily's face, smearing some blood on her face and Lily turned her head away trying to get away from him, pushing herself against the wall while Janika groaned. Jaeger laughed. "It's okay Lily, shh, it's okay." He smiled. With his bloody hands, Jaeger took the cloth out of her mouth and Lily started to scream at him.
"GET AWAY FROM ME" Lily said, her mouth sore from biting to much on the cloth. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" He frowned at her.
"You shouldn't worry about her, you should worry more about yourself"
"Why are we here" Lily asked, breathing quickly once the smell of blood hit her and wondering if she was next. Jeager pulled out a bloody knife and ran it down Lily's face to her jaw and neck, leaving a trial of blood and the knife on her pulse. Lily stopped breathing, but then her breath came back in quick gasps.
"Janika is just here because she was the bait to get you alone." Janika whimpered. "You on the other hand are here because of Scorpius Malfoy" Lily stiffened.
"What does he have to do with anything?" Jaeger laughed. He went over to Janika who was looking at him with frightened eyes. He started to untie the cloth in her mouth.
"Tsk, tsk Lily please think about what I say" he stood up and started to walk back and forth. "You always seemed very cautions around me. I don't usually get that reaction from girls that I pursue, instead, they feel loved and wanted, but not you" Lily hissed. He laughed. With her mouth free Janika started to scream at him only to have his wand pointed at her.
"Scream" and at this he pointed his wand at Lily. "And she dies" Lily glared at him.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Lily screamed. Jaeger lifted a shoulder and raised his free hand as in 'I give up' kinda thing.
"Fine, I'll tell you. You see, what I have against Malfoy is not only the fact that he took my play toy away from me, he also heard me saying some nasty remarks about what I was going to do to you and he punched me. Remember that fight. It all because of you and all because I said how I was going to make you WHORE" Jaeger said, breathing hard and his eyes filled with anger. His voice calmed down. "And that is what got me MAD. I wanted revenge on him for what he did and he even broke my nose. Even though this reason might seem like a pitiful reason for you, I hate him and I waited for my chance to get back at him. And I will do so with you." Again he leaned down his, face very close to her. "What a pathetic person you are" Lily snarled, trying to keep the scared part of her hidden. He smiled what many would consider a charming smile, but the the moment, it was anything but charming. "Yes, well there is another reason. Some years ago, my father brought me here and he showed me some stuff"
"Your father? Mr. Jaeger?" Lily said, thinking of the fat jolly man who loved to talk and teach German, one of the reasons Lily wanted to be in his class. Jaeger looked disgusted.
"NO, that fat bastard is not my father. You see, my mother had an affair with a man and got pregnant with me. Leon Jaeger knew though that I was not his son and that's why he never acted like a father to me. When my mother died and I was about 12, she told me who my real father was. I didn't care much for the man at first, but when I read about him in the Daily Prophet, I wanted to meet him. You see, he showed me this wonderful cave here out in my adopted father's country which we are currently at."
"Somebody will find out about you" Lily said. Jaeger laughed.
"They already have." Lily felt hope. He laughed again.
"But, if they do get past the creatures I told you about, all they will find is your dead body...
and he reached behind him in the darkness and pulled something "on display and you skin hanging from the walls" and a stronger light came on. Both Lily and Janika screamed. On the roof there were burned skins of people hanged like animal skins and behind Jaeger, a body was hidden under the a bloody blanket. Jaeger laughed when his he saw Lily's eyes run over the body covered up.
"What did you do to her?" Lily asked, not being able to take her eyes off her and not wanting to look up. She knew that the girl was dead but Lily didn't want to believe what she was seeing.
"Thats a surprise I will show you later" he said.
"How could you such a thing?" Lily screamed at him. He laughed.
"I don't know really. All I know is that I felt great pleasure doing it, and ..." he said his hands running down her cheek "and I will have fun with you too" and Lily felt sick to her stomach.
"Now, on with my reason for doing this. You see, this..." he said, arching his free hands towards the human skins "... is my fathers creation and your father was the one that DESTROYED IT. HE DESTROYED MY FATHERS DREAMS AND HE SENT MY FATHER TO AZKABAN WHERE HE DIED" Jaeger said, screaming. Lily heard Janika cry silently. "SHUT UP OR YOUR DEAD" Jaeger said, pointing his wand at Janika and Lily took this opportunity and hit his feet, making him lose his balance and fall, falling on top of the lamp and breaking it, all darkness again except for the small candle. Jaeger dropped his wand, but there wasn't much Lily could do with her hands tied, so she kicked his wand away. He glared at Lily, and from his robe pulled out a shiny metal thing. A gun. He smiled evilly, the gun pointed at her. "It seems here that Lily Potter wants to die first" and with that he was about to pull the trigger when he unexpectedly fell forward on top of Lily. Lily looked at him, trying to get him off her, but he was heavy.
"Scorpius" Janika said and Lily looked up to see Scorpius come out from the shadows and in front of her, easily removing Jaeger off her. Albus was behind him and he went over to Janika and pulled her robes off her while Scorpius did the same to Lily. How did they know where they were? Lily wondered. Once freed, Lily threw her arms around Scorpius, tears falling down her face.
"Scorpius, oh my god. I'm so happy your here. I was so scared" Lily sobbed against his chest.
"Shh, shh, Lily it's okay. Let's go before he wakes up" Lily nodded and got up to go with him and her brother and Janika. When she was on her feet, a hand curled around her ankles and pulled her down, not giving her or Scorpius a warning and before she knew it, Jaeger had her against him, his wand pointed at Scorpius and Albus, and the gun against her ribs. Scorpius and Albus were wandless and they frowned at their stupidity.
"Ah, Scorpius, so glad you could join the party." Jaeger said. Lily had never thought that a person could be so crazy, but he was.
"Jaeger, lets of her?" Scorpius said coldly.
"Now why would I do that? I have both the people I wanted in one room and I can kill both any second. So now, why would I let go of her?" Jaeger said, his voice sounding crazy rather then normal voice.
"Let go of her" Albus said. Jaeger smiled.
"Ah, and look, a Potter in our ranks. Nice. I was just going to kill Lily and hurt the famous Mr. Harry Potter, but it seems I can hurt him more with his son here as well" Jaeger laughed, never taking his eyes off anyone. Lily had her hands tied behind her again because Jaeger had put a biding spell on her. She couldn't do anything. She looked at Scorpius frantically. Jaeger was fast with his spells, taking Scorpius's and Albus's wand away from them, and then binding Lily. They could not take Jaeger and his magic ability lightly.
"Now" said Jaeger "Who should we start with first" he looked at Albus.
"Should we go for the son of the boy-who-live and killed the Dark Lord, or should we go for a Malfoy. I know, a Malfoy sounds better. Scorpius Malfoy, prepare to – " a shadow came behind Scorpius. Lily thought that it was going to kill him, but it didn't. It got in front of Scorpius, protecting him from Jaeger. Jaeger hissed.
"Lucias, get away or you will die as well" Lucias Malfoy stood there, his wands in his hands and then suddenly flew out on its own, hitting the wall. He didn't look surprised, but everyone else was.
"No, I will not let you kill my grandson for your own scheme, We agreed that the Potter girl needed to be gone. But Scorpius will not die by your hands" Mr. Malfoy said. Jaeger laughed.
"You weak old MAN. Here we can destroy Harry Potter by killing two of his children and your pathetic grandson is just a small sacrifice to pay" Mr. Malfoy said nothing as he stood there. "But then, you never did plan for Potter to suffer." Mr. Malfoy looked shocked and Jaeger laughed.
"I don't know what your talking about" Mr. Malfoy said. Jaeger sneered.
"Don't know. Well let me tell you. It took me a while to figure it out, but when I did, I decided to keep you out of here by keeping a certain creature on you the whole time and to kill you. You must killed him first I presume since you here, but you didn't leave with out bleeding first" Jaeger said, looking at the blood that was dripping from Mr. Malfoy's arm onto the dirt ground.
"When I first decided to tell you about your son here dating a Potter and all, I imagined you enraged because of what he was doing. And you did. When I told you about my plan to make Harry Potter suffer, I thought you be delighted and joining to help destroy the one man who destroyed the Dark Lord and the future with him leading us. And you did. You see, I know it was you that sent that note to the Ministry of Magic giving me away, and when I found out, I was enraged with you and your BETRAYAL. And since I knew of all of this, I made this cave into a trap. We are all under a cave that with my spell, it will collapse on us and kill all of us" Everyone was quite, even Janika had stopped crying. To frighted to cry.
"So everyone dies today in this cave and when the bodies are removed, you will be found and be considered the villain. Not the hero" He raised his wand to the roof and that's when Lily decided to take action. She bite down on Jaegers arms and he yelped. Lily did not let gom even when she tasted blood in her mouth. Everything happened so fast, that Lily didn't hear a shot going off, she didn't hear Janika screaming, or see Scorpius bend down to his grandfather. She only let go of Jaeger as he fell down and Scorpius grabbed her.
"Lily, Lily" Lily looked up at him, his eyes frantic "We have to go, Jaeger shot the roof and it going to collapse on all of us" Lily looked down at him, his head and hand bleeding and he was unconscious. "Lily, don't worry about him, he got hit by a falling rock. Come on lets go" Lily nodded and got up while Scorpius ran over to his grandfather and helped him walk with the help from Janika. Lily and Albus ran ahead with Scorpius, Mr. Malfoy and Janika close behind. They ran up the stairs and when they saw the hole leading to outside, they looked around and found an extra broom there, probably Jaegers or Mr. Malfoys. Scorpius grabbed his own and said he take his grandfather. Albus told Lily to go with him and Janika alone.
"No" Janika said, shaking her head looking scared "I'm not good with brooms" and so it was decided that Albus would take Janika and Lily on her own. They all flew up and what Lily saw amazed and frightened her. Outside, tons of wizards were fighting with strange creepy creatures that Lily had only seen in books only. She didn't have much time to observe them since one of them them saw her and started flying towards her, Lily flew away but the creature kept following. Lily didn't have her wand, so all she could do was dodge the creature and other creatures.
"AL" Lily heard her dad scream then... "EVERYONE RETREAT AND PROTECT THE YOUNG ONES" and before Lily knew it, she was surrounded by other wizards and they flew out of the forest, Lily falling on the ground when she landed, happy to be outside again. Lily felt arms go around her.
"Lily, Lily" her mother said as she hugged her tightly.
"Mom" Lily said as she felt herself fall asleep from exhaustion.
"Let's take them to St. Mungo's" her father said and Ginny agreed, apperating with her daughter to the hospital.
OH MY GOD, I hope it wasn't like disturbing or anything but I just didn't know how to finish the kidnap and I wanted something dramatic and also something with someone being the hero when everyone thought he was the villain. I just don't really know what to say. I'm disappointed with myself on how it ended but sort of like it. I got a lot of the ideas from random things such as Jeepers Creepers and him putting up the bodies on the walls (I did skins). Oh well, I just hope you liked this and yeah... and to people out there, I'm not much of a fan of my own story as much as I was. And for the whole gun tings, well I like to just put things randomly and the gun seemed a good idea since to me it can be as quick, accurate and deadly as the death curse in the wizard world. To us, the gun is our forbidden curse that should never be used for any reason.